The Best Bets For Pie on Thanksgiving

Yesterday I was asked a tough question - what is the best (as in healthiest) pie to eat on Thanksgiving? Pie by nature is not a very healthy option given the crust and the shortening or butter used to make...

Yesterday I was asked a tough question - what is the best (as in healthiest) pie to eat on Thanksgiving? Pie by nature is not a very healthy option given the crust and the shortening or butter used to make it but I can give you some advice for choosing wisely when dessert is served later this week!

What would Thanksgiving dinner be without pie at the end of it?! Pie is the customary dessert served in most homes on Thursday. On a day where calories are everywhere, pie would not be the best dessert choice you could make but if that is your only option, here is what you should know.

Any good pie is built on a nice crust. Pie crust is almost always made with vegetable shortening due to its ideal flaky baking properties. Unfortunately this great texture comes with a cost – shortening is a common carrier of partially hydrogenated oils and trans fat. If the crust is not made with shortening, then it’s likely made with butter or lard which comes with saturated fat. Both types of fat are hard on the heart so
the number one rule with pie is to limit your intake. If Thanksgiving is the one day a year you eat pie then you don’t have to fret much over which type to chose but it’s always good to know what is in your food so be aware of what you are eating.

On top of the crust is always a filling. The filling can be fruit, vegetable or chocolate based. Fillings are made sweet by the addition of sugar. This combination of sugar from the filling and fat from the crust is what drives
the calories in a small slice of pie to up around 300-400 each!

When it comes to choosing the “best” pie for your waistline there really is no clear winner. When I compared apple, pumpkin, cherry, chocolate creme and lemon meringue using SELFNutritionData.com, no one pie stood out to me as being significantly healthier than the others.

Please don’t let me ruin dessert for you with my dietitian way of thinking. You can eat pie and if you put some time into making your own instead of buying one premade then you might even be able to enjoy it guilt-free! Here are a few tips to making a “healthy” pie.

Limit the crust to one side. Don’t use a crust for the bottom and the top of the pie. Choose a streusel or whipped cream topping instead.

Choose butter over shortening or lard – it’s the least of the three evils. The healthiest option is oil but this can only be used if you are making a crumb crust (a regular crust will be dense and greasy if made with oil).

Fill with fruit and limit the sugar you add. Fruit is sweet by nature – you don’s have to add loads of sugar on top of it. Add flavor boosts with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and zests or rinds from citrus fruit instead.

Make your own whipped cream. Most commercially prepared versions have hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup in them along with a medley of other ingredients that don’t belong there. Homemade whipped cream will be higher in fat but it’s more natural to make your own and a small amount of homemade is more satisfying than a large amount of fake stuff.

Enjoy a piece of your favorite pie for dessert this Thanksgiving but don’t eat it for breakfast the next day too!